Sabres unravel in 3rd period, losing 8-3 in Edmonton

EDMONTON, Alberta (AP) — Zach Hyman scored his 47th and 48th goals, the second in Edmonton’s five-goal third period, and the Oilers overcame a two-goal deficit to rout the Buffalo Sabres 8-3 on Thursday night.

Mattias Ekholm had two goals and an assist, Leon Draisaitl added a goal and two assists, Darnell Nurse, Ryan McLeod and Connor Brown also scored and Stuart Skinner made 26 saves. Connor McDavid had four assists, two on Hyman’s goals.

The Oilers improved to 42-21-4 with their second straight victory. They are 9-1-2 in their last 12.

J.J. Peterka scored twice for Buffalo. Victor Olofsson added a goal and Ukko-Pekka Luukkonen stopped 31 shots. The Sabres have lost three of four to fall to 33-33-5.

Playoff outlook

The Sabres are seven points back of the final wild card spot with 11 games to play. Of the four teams ahead of them, all have played fewer games than Buffalo.

MoneyPuck’s playoff odds estimate the Sabres have just a 3.4% chance of making the postseason, while The Athletic gives them a 2% chance.

Edmonton, meanwhile, stands in second place in the Pacific Division.

How it happened

Peterka opened the scoring with his 22nd just 1:38 into the game off an Edmonton turnover, and Olofsson made it 2-0 with 3:26 to play in the first period.

Draisaitl got Edmonton on the board on a power play with 1:05 to play in the period for his 35th. The Oilers pulled even 4:26 into the second period whens Ekholm opted to shoot on a two-on-one.

Peterka restored Buffalo’s lead with 3:04 to play in the second, and Hyman tied it with 48 seconds left in the period.

The Oilers took the lead 4:38 into the third period. Nurse’s shot clipped a defender and got past Luukkonen. Troy Stecher got an assist for his first point as an Oiler since arriving from Arizona at the trade deadline.

Ekholm made it 5-3 just 1:02 later, and Hyman netted his second with 4:22 left. McDavid picked up his fourth assist with a pass from behind the goal line out front to Hyman.

The Oilers continued to pour it on with McLeod scoring with 3:02 remaining.

Brown followed up with his second of the season, and in his last three games, after ending a 72-game drought that extended back almost two full years on March 13 against Washington.

Up next

The Sabres visit Calgary on Sunday night to complete five-game trip.

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